From within the pages of the strange, glowing book, another ferocious roar tears through the library. In seconds, a large creature reminiscent of both a lion and a viper claws its way into existence. It sniffs harshly, determining there is no prey nearby before roaring once more. It then tears off and bursts into the study. A pair of golden eyes falls on Sophia. It hunches over and stalks around the desk at the far edge of the room.

Agarrath uses Trigger Command: Search to Destroy!

Agarrath appears in the Study Area at O5!

Agarrath's Predatory Gaze falls on Sophia! Sophia is marked as his Prey!

{b} – Enigmatic Book[No Occupy][Trigger Command: Pick Up – What the heck is going on with this thing? Range: Adjacent. Uses: 1]

{d} – Empty Desk[No Occupy]SP: 15/15Grd: 5Mnd: 3

{b} – Perused Bookcase[No Occupy]SP: 20/20Grd: 8Mnd: 6

Player Phase 5

- - - - -

Sam covered his ears as a massive roar echoed through the library. Although he didn't know it right away, it spared him both of the cries made by the two ghouls. His partner in taking them down, however, had not had the same luck. Whether she had been frightened by the roar (as if) or just distracted, she definitely appeared to be having a run of bad luck. "We better beat these things and fast, I think they're about to be the least of our worries..."

Jayce narrowly dodged the book that was meant for the same target whose face just met the man's foot. He wanted to continue his fight with the otherworldy being, but a roar reverberated through the building, pulling away Jayce's attention.

He glanced behind him, just as a massive lizard came bulldozing through the study room. It ran right past Jayce, causing him to flinch and duck away for a moment. "Okay, fuck that!" he exclaimed. He spared a glance at the wraith, then glanced at the reptile, who seemed to be staring down Sophia. "Oi, Sophie," he called out. "Keep your eye on that bastard, I think he's got the hots for you."

He looked once more at the wraith that was between him and Rosa. Shit, he thought, turning to help the hispanic girl deal with her problem. No way he was gonna fight the bigass lizard without having something to put a little range between them. Maybe he'd just hurl some books at it, then go in for the kill. Sophia did have a knife. Maybe they could break off a table leg and make a spear, or something.

"I...think my luck just ran out," Sophia managed to mutter as a devastating roar shook the room causing books to fall off their shelves. A massive reptile now took up residence in their private area. Seemed like the place was full of uninvited guests. Studying might be out of the question today, and final exams were definitely going to have to wait.

Sophia gulped when she caught the thing gazing at her with such hunger--as if it were already imagining what she tasted like.

"I...I don't know if I can do this anymore," Sophia shouted to the guy nearby who had warned her that the monster had eyes for her. Her knuckles were white from how tightly she gripped her knife. One weird ghoul thing was one thing, but this...this was a monster. She needed a gun or something; a simple pocket knife for self-defense against a mugger was not going to cut it.

Sophia maneuvered around the desk. She had to keep it away from her. She trembled and clutched her stomach. That same feeling was still nagging at her. Why was she so hungry? Why now?

"What are we supposed to do?!" she asked no one in particular. She would take any ideas from anybody at this point. Even if the remaining ghoul wanted to speak up and offer some advice, that would have been great.

"Ugh, I am NOT dealing with this today!" Kiera groans. The wailing and the roaring sapped at her strength somehow, like they had some kind of power behind them.Other than hurting like a bitch, Kiera didn't think of the monsters as having any power behind the voice. She expected claws and slashing and whatnot. "Fucking Shrieks are what these things are," she mutters angrily and raising her handbag again. Maybe this time she'll look with her eyes and not her hands and actually hit the god damned thing.

A deep, echoing roar filled the small area that held the three youths and it made Rosa's very soul quiver. The situation was only getting worse, and there seemed to be no recourse. Sophia had seemed to destroy one of the ghosts, but near its place appeared an even more fearsome creature... if one could call it that. What... are these things? She heard the all-familiar cry of pain and felt a similar feeling radiate through her head down through her spine. This was starting to wear her down... Cringing, she took a look towards the remaining mannequin which had continued to chase her from the other end of the small space. For now, the new ... monster... had not focused on Rosa, and the more selfish part of her was glad about that. Even if that was not a situation that she would wish upon anyone, there wasn't going to be much that would make her be in Sophia's shoes.

"Well we can't give up now!" Rosa took the big thesaurus and swung at the mannequin in front of her. Maybe if they hit it enough it would also go down. "We need to find a way out of here. For some reason we're not frozen like the others that are still sitting in here, so we should try and find some help for them if they're even still alive..." She took a few steps back away from the mannequin towards Sophia and tried not to burst into tears. There was no feasible way that they could escape was there? Especially with the fearsome creature that had come into the small space with them. It was only a matter of time before it opened its great maw and ate them all alive. "Is there any way that we could get out of the library without getting eaten?"

It seemed that the creature wanted to play with its future meal. It stalked right over to right near Sophia before suddenly pouncing on her with a feral growl. The young girl, unable to react quickly enough, found herself caught under its mighty weight. The creature's forked tongue stuck out and licked its scaly lips. Sophia looked plump and would be easy enough to chomp into now that she was immobile.

{b} – Enigmatic Book[No Occupy][Trigger Command: Pick Up – What the heck is going on with this thing? Range: Adjacent. Uses: 1]

{d} – Empty Desk[No Occupy]SP: 15/15Grd: 5Mnd: 3

{b} – Perused Bookcase[No Occupy]SP: 20/20Grd: 8Mnd: 6

Player Phase 6

- - - - -

The two managed to defeat one of the ghouls with their combined strength. Whether this caused the other shrieking fiend to falter or if their ears had finally stopped registering the grating tones, the two now outnumbered their foe. It would only be a matter of time before they defeated him as well, but Sam cursed again when the damn thing began to flee. "I think it's scared of us now," he stated aloud, chasing after it despite not being able to catch it.

"Oi!" Kiera shouts in her best British accent at the fleeing creature. She saw Sam press his hands over his ears before and did not know why she hadn't thought of that earlier. So when the thing began to wail again she quickly covered her ears and avoided having her head split open. "Get over here you puss-nugget!" Kiera picks up her handbag-turned-weapon and chases after the creature just as the boy does. He can't reach the creature but is already winding up for the attack way before being in range. When she finally swings down, the bag is just within that small range and aiming for the top of the creature's fleeing head.

"Hyaah!" Kiera shouts just as her bag hits.Half out of effort and nearly tripping over her own shoes and half out of frustration.

Jayce wanted to swing at the wraith, but upon sparing a glance back towards Sophia, he managed to catch the reptilian predator pounce on the knife-wielding girl. "Jesus!" he shouted, turning away from the wraith. Sophia was about to be dinner if she didn't get some help. With the thing not looking at him, Jayce decided he'd try and get the drop on it.

He ran towards it, using his momentum to charge a powerful kick towards the creature's jaw.

Sophia screamed as the creature approached and pounced upon her. She struggled as it pinned her to the library floor and gazed into its horrific visage, a hungry look in its eye. This was it. She was going to die. Out of the corner of her tear-filled eye she could see Jayce running to her rescue, dealing a well-placed kick, but he was just a human. And this thing was a monster. This wasn't a book. This was reality.

And boy was reality a bitch. For real.

Sophia furrowed her brow in frustration as she continued to struggle. She could not escape the monster's grasp but she found she could still use her hands to an extent. Taking note of this, she slashed wildly at the beast. Maybe she would nick a main artery or something? It was better than just giving up, even if all seemed hopeless.

Rosa watched as Jayce suddenly and boldly charged towards the alligator-like creature that had Sophia pinned down, leaving the last mannequin severely wounded near her. "J-Jayce? What are you doing?!" He was crazy! There was no way that people should go anywhere near dangerous animals, especially ones that weren't even remotely animals, but monsters rather. He must have had a death wish. There was nothing that she could do as she watched Jayce run towards the creature and delivering a swift kick. Perhaps he could knock it off-balance with the element of surprise, but it would take a large amount of balls to just go ham like that. Then there was the matter of the final mannequin that was still struggling in the room.

"Give me just a moment, I need to take care of this one before I can be there." Rosa brandished the big thesaurus and moved towards the gravely wounded mannequin near her. She needed to be of some use and help Sophia. Before she could do that, she needed to take care of the other mannequin that Jayce had whittled down. Stepping towards it, she brought down the heavy resource onto the mannequin with all her might. Hopefully that would end its suffering, if one could call it that.

The reptilian monster hissed in pain as Jayce and Sophia unleashed their attacks upon it. Although neither left the creature quite stunned it had not been expecting its prey to lash out so powerfully. Clearly a lesson learned. Eat first, play later. And with that ideal in mind it opened its maw and chomped down on Sophia's arm without a second thought. Now she would be the one bleeding!

{b} – Enigmatic Book[No Occupy][Trigger Command: Pick Up – What the heck is going on with this thing? Range: Adjacent. Uses: 1]

{d} – Empty Desk[No Occupy]SP: 15/15Grd: 5Mnd: 3

{b} – Perused Bookcase[No Occupy]SP: 20/20Grd: 8Mnd: 6

Player Phase 7

- - - - -

Sam faltered slightly as Kiera managed to brutally bash the ghoul with her bag. Whatever was in the thing had clearly thrown the warped creature for a loop – it did nothing in retaliation, merely shook. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Sam darted around to the creature's other side and punched the thing again.

Sophia laughed as the creature bit her but tears of pain and agony rolled down her face. She imagined this was what it felt like to be attacked by an alligator or something. If she survived she'd be on one of those television series like "How I Survived" or some such. She wondered if she would still have an arm if she survived. A prosthetic wouldn't be too bad, she supposed. A small price to pay in order to keep living. She continued laughing, obviously in shock, and even though she was in such pain, she stabbed her knife into the beast, the tip piercing its hide. With it pinning her down, it was an easy target, but that particular sword was double-edged. She would continue to get munched on until they managed to kill it. Somehow...

When Rosa brought the book down on the wounded mannequin, it exploded into a pile of black group. She squealed and jerked backward as the black ooze got on her. It was freezing. However, it was going away as soon as it had appeared and the body of the mannequin was also seemingly evaporating into thin air. Just when she was going to get a breath of air, she heard the sound of a nasty chomp. Rosa gasped and turned around. The creature had bitten Sophia! Sophia burst into laughter but Rosa could see tears on her face. "Wait, I'm coming!" She quickly swept her hand over the desk in search of anything that might help her deal with the alligator but with low expectations, and shortly afterward with the heavy thesaurus in tow, she ran as fast as she could to try and get the alligator creature off of Sophia.

"Dammit," Jayce hissed. The viper-esque reptile chomped down hard on Sophia's arm. He could tell the poor girl was in pain, even though she was cackling like a villain. "Hold tight!" Jayce called out, trying to stomp on the thing's head again. If I can just get it to pause for a moment, we should be able to deal with it.

"That's right!" Kiera nods and cheers at the same time as the hit from her bag made the thing stagger. "You're learned how to stay, now let's teach you how to SIT!" With another wind-up,Kiera throws the bag with her whole shoulder and aims down on the ghoul's head again. Whether the contents cause it to stagger again shouldn't matter at this point. All Kiera wanted to do was leave this gods-forsaken place for good.

The book Jayce had left open once again spit out a violent amount of horrid violet energy. This time, however, no roar accompanied the expulsion of power. Instead, all that reverberated through the library was a massive thud. Next to the book sat a massive golem-like creature with no clear distinction. It took a moment and then took another hulking step sending yet another thud crashing through the library.

{b} – Enigmatic Book[No Occupy][Trigger Command: Pick Up – What the heck is going on with this thing? Range: Adjacent. Uses: 1]

{d} – Empty Desk[No Occupy]SP: 15/15Grd: 5Mnd: 3

{b} – Perused Bookcase[No Occupy]SP: 20/20Grd: 8Mnd: 6

Player Phase 8

- - - - -

It seemed the duo had managed to beat the ghoul into submission. It had not attempted to fight back since Kiera had assaulted it and now it looked well worse for wear. Another hit or two would do it in and Sam wasted no time in delivering a swift punch to it.

Another chomp and Sophia stopped her chuckling and let out another scream as blood coursed down her arm. It seemed to be trickling slowly; the wound was superficial. The teeth were so precise. If they had been jagged or if the beast had torn at her when biting it would have been a lot worse. She felt pressure release from her arms in that moment and she knew she had her chance. She stabbed at the beast once more and scurried across the floor, standing up and running off. She didn't want to turn around to face it. She woudn't see what sort of damage she herself had dealt to it.

Rosa heard the sound of Sophia screaming as the monster chomped into the helpless woman's arm. After sweeping the desk she found an unopened bar of chocolate. She'd need to give it to Sophia; chocolate made just about everyone feel better, even if for a little bit. As Sophia was running away from the creature, she saw her chance to dive in while the beast was distracted. Contorting her face and pocketing the chocolate, she ran towards the monster and and quite unceremoniously brought the big resource manual on top of the monster's upper region. "Take this!" Hopefully with the amount of slashing and kicking that Jayce and Sophia had done to this... creature... it would go down and they could get out of there.

[Rosa is under the mindset of Nocturnal Sect!Rosa's AP Costs that are higher than 5 are reduced by 1.Rosa moves to S2! (S1 -> S2)Rosa Basic Attacks Agarrath![1+2] (3) Str Damage!Rosa waits...]

The ghoul seems to be fairing poorly in comparison to them. Kiera noticed how weak it seemed to be all alone. The only reason they were such a threat before was because another was with it. That's interesting, and much like the ghouls Kiera already fought in those video games before. Although these are significantly more frightening. She nearly opened her mouth to quote a line from one of the characters, but remembered that she was in the presence of a stranger and immediately shut her mouth before the words could come out.

Don't be such a nerd, Kiera thought to herself. The last thing she needed was someone berating her for her inactive hobbies. Kiera raises her handbag and swings it as hard as she could at the ghoul, waiting for it to fall to the ground or explode in a ball of puss and guts or whatever these things do when they die.

Jayce was able to catch a moment of reprieve--Sophia struggled free from the beast's grasp, inflicting a nasty gash as she ran away. Rosa then came from around the corner and bashed it on the head with the thick Thesaurus she'd been lugging around. Not yet sure if the reptilian hunter was finished, the man dodged around the desks and beast, positioning himself in between it and the knife-wielding girl.

He raised his fists, ready for combat again. The rumbling throughout the library made him nervous, but there was no present threat for the moment. Perhaps the group would be able to escape before they had to encounter whatever was making the noise. "Yo, Sophie," he called out, "how are you holding up?"

{b} – Enigmatic Book[No Occupy][Trigger Command: Pick Up – What the heck is going on with this thing? Range: Adjacent. Uses: 1]

{d} – Empty Desk[No Occupy]SP: 15/15Grd: 5Mnd: 3

{b} – Perused Bookcase[No Occupy]SP: 20/20Grd: 8Mnd: 6

{r} – Turned Over Bookcase[No Occupy]

Player Phase 10

- - - - -

"What the fuck was that?" Sam asked, unsure of whether or not he wanted to dash off to discover what was capable of causing such a loud crash. If it was more of the ghouls, however, he could only assume that they would inevitably come for both Kiera and himself. "Never mind, I don't want to know." If it was ghouls then he would let them show themselves. If it wasn't more ghouls then he did not want to face whatever the Hell was waiting for them in some other section of the library. Probably not the smartest idea to sit here and wait to be slaughtered, but damn it what choice do we have?

The beast toppled over after a few seconds. Jayce relaxed and let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He turned to face Sophia, staring at her wounds with a concerned expression. Another huge thud shook the library. It seemed to be coming from the fiction section, just like the reptilian thing...

Oh god fucking dammit, Jayce cursed mentally. I bet it's because of that fucking book I left open. God. Dammit. He sighed, fingertips moving towards his temples to massage them. "I'm going to go check out the fiction section," he mumbled. "I'd appreciate a little bit of backup, but if you're hurting too much, don't worry about it." He took in a deep breath, turned on his heel, and set off at a jog towards the location of the damned magic tome.

The beast fell and Sophia let out a sigh of relief. She stripped off her scarf from around her neck and wrapped it tightly around her wounds, tucking the scarf in itself to form a knot to keep it firmly in place. She was glad it wasn't super thick but even still it was slightly uncomfortable. Regardless, it would have to make do as a bandage for now. She had plenty of other scarves at home.

"I think I'll be okay for now, thanks for asking," Sophia replied to Jayce with a courteous nod. She was still very shaken up but the fact that the monster was dead helped her nerves immensely. Her legs were still shaking and she felt a bit dizzy but other than that she could carry on. A loud crash resonated through the library coming from what she knew was the...fiction section. Was there another beast there?

"We can't let you go there by yourself! What if there's another monster?! I might be hurt but I can still..." Sophia hesitated. It seemed that the iron grip she had on the knife this entire time had not loosened in the slightest, even in this time of reprieve.

"I can still fight."

That said, she pursued him to their target location: the fiction section.

And so Rosa dealt the final blow to the abhorrent creature that had severely injured Sophia. It felt really good to be able to exact vengeance when she was normally powerless... but she needed to get ahold of herself. She shook her head and watched as Jayce and Sophia spoke, not really having anything to say to either of them. She had been largely ignored up to this point and perhaps it would be better to keep things that way. After all, trusting strangers could be dangerous even in life-threatening situations... that is, unless people go into the heart of the storm face first.

Rosa's eyes widened as Jayce began moving towards the Fiction Section of the library towards the sound of a loud crash. Rosa herself wasn't sure if she wanted to see anything in there... but then Sophia also trailed after him, saying that she could still fight with half an arm. She was exasperated. Were they crazy?! They just got done killing mannequins and whatever chimerical concoction that the library had in store for them at that point and now they both wanted to go die? She couldn't just let that happen. Even if they were strangers, there was a chance that she could maybe help, even just a little. "Wait! I'll come with you guys!" Clutching her aching head, Rosa chased after Sophia and Jayce as they went towards the source of the crash in the Fiction Section.

[Rosa is under the mindset of Nocturnal Sect!Rosa's AP Costs that are higher than 5 are reduced by 1.Rosa activates Trigger Command: Converge!]

"Excuse me?" Kiera states flatly as Sam outright refuses to check on what that noise was. For all they could know there could be more people upstairs like them, unaffected by whatever magic is going on here. Those people could be under attack, and he just outright refuses to go check on them? Not even just to see if they are okay? Whatever happened obviously started here so there must be something they can do to fix it. And he tucks in his balls and wants to waddle away like a turkey?

Kiera grabs a fistful of the boy's collar and pulls him down to her eye level with surprising strength. Kiera isn't much of a gym-goer, but she did not slack off and masturbate every day like this chicken shit of a man. "If I pull off your pants, what will I see? A man or a fucking pussy? Because right now you're sounding a lot like those cunt-goblins down the block from my house." Kiera releases him and pushes him away from her face. She pokes him fiercely on his chest and then holds up three of her fingers.

"I'll give you three choices, Mister Turkey," Kiera says and lowers a inger for each choice she rattles off. "You can sit at this desk and enjoy your dick for as long as you can until I come back down and rip it off you. You can run away like the frightened little kitten you are. Or you can show some fucking empathy and see if there is anyone else who needs help. I am going up there and I do not give a right damn about what you do." With that, Kiera pushes Sam again and storms off for the upper levels.